Tips, tricks and thoughts from one writer to cyberspace every M,W and F.

Do What You Love

“You’ve got to find
what you love. And that is as true for work, as it is for your lovers. Your
work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly
satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great
work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and
don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
–Steve Jobs

After Apple’s announcement Wednesday night, I watched Steve
Jobs’ Stanford commencement address, and it really struck a chord. If you haven’t taken the fifteen minutes to
watch it yet, I highly recommend it—it’s inspirational.

That being said, one of the (many) things that stuck out to
me was the quote I gave to you guys above. You’ve got to find what you love.

Life is short and every day is a gift. You only have one
life to live, so why not spend it doing something that you love?If you’re not
passionate about your work, maybe you should be doing something else. Maybe you
should consider making a change and doing that thing that you really want to
do.

I remember when I was in high school and I would ask my
peers what they wanted to do and I’d get answers like “I want to be a doctor”
or “I want to be a lawyer”—and that was great for some of them. Some of them
really loved the medical field and were fascinated with law and that’s fantastic.

But some of them were motivated by money, or just going
along the path their well-intentioned parents pushed them onto. They worked
hard to get the grades and went to ivy league schools to study a profession
that could make them money not because it was what they wanted to do, not
because they loved it, but because it was what was expected of them.

It’s hardly an uncommon story and looking back, I wish I had
said something. Because guys, money means nothing if you’re not happy. And all
those expectations from your friends, your family, they’re real and it’s hard
to disappoint them, but sometimes they don’t line up with your dreams.
Sometimes they don’t line up with who you are. And sometimes when that happens
you need to take a stand and do what makes you happy.

And no, they may not understand you. They may think you
foolish for stepping off the secure path to do that risky thing that you really
enjoy doing.

But in the end it comes down to you. Your happiness. Your
life.

I leave you with another gem from Mr. Jobs:

“…for the past 33
years, I’ve looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were
the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And
whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to
change something.”